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Decks cleared for first test of 5000-km range Agni-V missile

PEACEMAKER2010

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NEW DELHI: India has begun final preparations for the first test of its most-ambitious strategic missile, the 5,000-km Agni-V, which will prove to be both a technical as well as logistical challenge.

The Agni-V, which will bring the whole of Asia, 70% of Europe and other regions under its strike envelope, will be tested from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast towards end-March to early-April, top defence sources said.

"We are almost ready for the test. There are no technical glitches or problems. It's more of a scheduling and logistical issue now since the missile will travel halfway across the Indian Ocean," said a source.

"Countries like Indonesia and Australia as well as international air and maritime traffic in the test zone will have to be alerted a week or 10 days before the test. Moreover, our warships, with DRDO scientists, tracking and monitoring systems, will have to be positioned midway and near the impact point in southern Indian Ocean," he added.

The nuclear-capable Agni-V, about 50-tonne in weight and 17.5-metre tall, is bound to generate waves. Once the three-stage missile becomes operational by 2014-2015 after "four to five repeatable tests", as promised by DRDO, India will break into the exclusive ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) club that counts just US, Russia, China, France and UK as its members.

India could have gone for a higher strike range but believes the solid-fuelled Agni-V is "more than adequate" to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. The missile can, after all, even hit the northernmost parts of China.

With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier-generation of Agni missiles. "The accuracy levels of Agni-V and the 3,500-km Agni-IV (first tested in November 2011), with their better guidance and navigation systems, are far higher than Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km) and Agni-III (3,000-km)," said the source.

India, of course, cannot match China in terms of its vast nuclear and missile arsenals, with missiles like the 11,200-km range Dong Feng-31A even unnerving the US. But missiles like Agni-IV and Agni-V will certainly add teeth to its credible minimum nuclear deterrence posture.

The Agni missiles will get deadlier once MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads for them are developed. An MIRV payload on a missile carries several nuclear warheads, which can be programmed to hit different targets. A flurry of such missiles can hence completely overwhelm BMD (ballistic missile defence) systems.


Decks cleared for first test of 5000-km range Agni-V missile
 
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Good to see that the missile is all ready to get tested, and all the ground test are done and any glitches are corrected. Can't wait till the end of March.
 
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Good to see that the missile is all ready to get tested, and all the ground test are done and any glitches are corrected. Can't wait till the end of March.

All the best to DRDO and our Mother Land :tup: :tup:
 
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Its good hear this news. finally we are doing great things to teach good lessons to our rouge neighbors.

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images
:wave:
 
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is this the last long range missile india will develop? if its tru itss dammm sad.

Mate the answer to your question is given in the statement you highlighted itself!! The keyword here is "current". If there is a change in the current threats towards india, she will and should go for further strike ranges of her missiles. The main aim should be the development of SLBMs in the range of 8000-10000 kms. Until tht objective is achieved, i don't think that india will stop developing and diversifying its missile arsenal.

All the best to DRDO.:tup:
 
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i hardly see Any member from our eastern neighbour in thread AGNI-V LoL..
 
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Its good hear this news. finally we are doing great things to teach good lessons to our rouge neighbors.

images
:wave:

I guess the distance gauge in above figure is taken by considering the missile is fired from Delhi , India needs to develop the bigger range so that the Missile can reach North east tip of China even if it is fired from Southern most tip of India .

That would act as an effective and credible deterrent !
 
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I guess the distance gauge in above figure is taken by considering the missile is fired from Delhi , India needs to develop the bigger range so that the Missile can reach North east tip of China even if it is fired from Southern most tip of India .

That would act as an effective and credible deterrent !

I don't agree with you...I think Agni V is good enough a deterrent.. it gives a strong message that the entire China is now in our range...Hitting China from southernmost tip means a missile range of about 8000Km...It will not change much b/w India and China context but surely is going to be taken very seriously by western nations....Instead of that i would prefer a 8000 KM SLBM....This will give some serious teeth to our triad...
 
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Will the mirv would be tested in this test or its development is going parallel and would be integrated in the later tests?
 
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Heres something interesting

Agni V has a 5000 km range with a 1000 Kg payload

Now the payload can be of 2 types ie 4 MIRVs of 250 kgs each with 50KT warheads or a single 600 kg , 150 KT warhead nicknamed The Peking Duck

Now if we only use a single 50 KT warhead , then the Missile can very well hit 8000 km
even with a single 150KT warhead , which is mainly a china specific warhead , the missile will be able to Hit as far as 6500 Km
 
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Will the mirv would be tested in this test or its development is going parallel and would be integrated in the later tests?

Unfortunately things are not very clear on this aspect...However i believe we are not yet ready with it...Can someone with more knowledge on this subject please throw light??
 
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